By COLlive reporter
Where to meet Brooklyn Jews this time of the year? In the Catskills, of course.
Former federal prosecutor Ken Thompson took the heavily-trafficked trip to Upstate New York on Sunday to campaign for the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office.
In his rounds in the former Borsht Belt he got blessings from the Skver-Boro Park Rebbe Yechiel Michl Twersky, Krula Rebbe Moshe Gross, and Nikolsburger Rebbe of Boro Park Mordechai Jungreis.
He met a Satmar boys camp at Kutshers Hotel in Monticello, joined a dedication of a new Torah at the Raleigh Hotel in South Fallsburg and didn’t forget to grab some kosher pizza in Woodbourne.
Chatting with local merchants and Brooklyn natives, Thompson reminded them that this race has a lot at stake.
“The current District Attorney’s office has had a pattern of wrongful convictions with serious allegations of misconduct,” he said in a recent interview with Ami Magazine criticizing his incumbent rival Charles Hynes.
“The cases I’m talking about are those where there are serious allegations of police or prosecutorial misconduct. I’m not talking about cases where a jury might have made a mistake. That can happen, and that’s why DNA evidence is so important and has been used to free innocent people.”
He said his aim, while remaining faithful to the law, will be fairness. “It’s important for a prosecutor to be tough and to keep us safe, but also to be fair. A prosecutor who is tough but not fair isn’t the best type of prosecutor.”
As the son of the first woman in the history of the NYPD to go on patrol as a police officer in 1973, Thompson states: “I believe very strongly in protecting the community. I don’t believe in freeing criminals …I want innocent people to be protected by making sure the guilty are put away, especially those who are violent.”
And here he takes another issue with Hynes, the controversial District Attorney who was elected to office in 1989 and is serving his 6th term.
“I disagree with [Hynes’] statement that the Orthodox community is almost like the Mafia,” Thompson told Ami Magazine.
“You can’t characterize a whole community like that. I think that’s wrong. A district attorney has an obligation to not smear an entire community. A DA shouldn’t react to political pressure; he should do what he feels is right. When you let politics mix with prosecution, that’s a dangerous mix.”
Thompson said he will be a friend of the Jewish community, noting that “I will also make certain that politics doesn’t mix with investigations or prosecutions. Brooklyn is one of the best and most diverse places to live, but it needs a prosecutor who will have a single standard. That’s what I am going to do.”
The primary election day for the Democratic candidate for Kings Country District Attorney is on Tuesday, September 10, 2013. Thompson is hoping that the apple he got from the Krulah Rebbe will indeed grant him a “sweet new year.”
Why is Tompson the ONLY running politician that is advertizing on OUR websites and traveling to OUR communities etc.
Where are all the Councel, Mayorial, Borough presidents etc?
“and that’s why DNA evidence is so important and has been used to free innocent people”
Tompson is clearly reffering to the 103 year jail sentence that was given to a father of 10 without evidence.
Tompson continues the Hynes was “reacting to political pressure” rather than fairness.
(Politicle Pressure to single out the frum community came from secular News sites like “Jewish Week” “Villiage Voice” and NY Times.)
I will be upset if he wins anything less then 80% of eligible Crown Heights votes. Hynes has singled out our community and has done a lot of damage…
“I disagree with [Hynes’] statement that the Orthodox community is almost like the Mafia”
When did Hynes say this?